PPPO’s Safety and Health, Nuclear Safety, and Quality Assurance programs collectively ensure protection of public and worker health and safety and the environment. This is accomplished by empowering and holding accountable managers, employees and contractors to prioritize health, safety and environmental considerations as integral to all projects, programs and work activities.
PPPO’s Safety and Health (S&H) program integrates safety and health requirements and controls into all work activities. S&H oversees implementation of Integrated Safety Management (ISM) within contractor activities to ensure protection of workers, the public, and the environment. PPPO promotes a working environment where each worker feels responsible for safety and health. Decision-making reflects safety as an overriding priority for all PPPO and contractor activities, and organizational learning is embraced.
Major Responsibilities:
- Ensure S&H performance within established policy is addressed by PPPO site contractors with clearly stated expectations and assigned organizational responsibilities.
- Ensure processes, practices, and procedures involving S&H activities by PPPO site contractors are generated and effectively addressed.
- Conduct direct independent program and project assessments/surveillances of site contractors that include S&H and nuclear facility safety basis programs and contractual requirements.
- Review, evaluate, and approve contractor S&H plans that support operations and activities conducted at the sites.
- Ensure site contractor Integrated Safety Management System (ISMS) Declarations are effectively and efficiently implemented according to PPPO, Environmental Management (EM), and overall DOE requirements.
The Nuclear Safety Program mission is to support the design, construction, operation, and deactivation and decommissioning of the Paducah and Portsmouth nuclear facilities in a manner that ensures adequate protection of workers, the public, and the environment.
Major Responsibilities:
- Establish and implement nuclear safety requirements that utilize national consensus (or other government) standards or applicable external agency regulations (Nuclear Regulatory Commission, etc.) in accordance with DOE’s processes for developing and implementing rules, directives, and technical standards. Key nuclear safety elements to be addressed include hazard identification, assessment and control; facility design; quality assurance; and safety management programs to ensure a high level of formality of operations, such as procedures, facility management, maintenance, personnel training, conduct of operations, criticality safety, emergency preparedness, fire protection, radioactive and hazardous waste management, and radiation protection.
- Support implementation of the Department’s Integrated Safety Management that systematically integrates safety into management and work practices at all levels, so that missions are accomplished efficiently while protecting the workers, the public, and the environment.
- Use a safety management approach that minimizes the use of hazardous materials, establishes appropriate hazard controls based upon a primarily qualitative hazard analysis, and implements a defense-in-depth approach to hazard control.
- Ensure that quantitative and probabilistic risk assessments, when employed, are used in a manner that:
- Supplements qualitative/deterministic processes for hazard assessments, hazard control development, and safety management programs development,
- Is consistent with DOE directives, and
- Is supported by industry practices and availability of risk data.
- Ensure operations are conducted such that:
- Individual members of the public are provided a level of protection from risks associated with DOE operations that equates to no significant additional risk to life and health than that to which members of the general population are normally exposed, and
- DOE workers’ health and safety are protected to levels consistent with or better than that achieved for workers in similar industries.
PPPO’s Quality Assurance (QA) program effectively and efficiently implements DOE Environmental Management (EM) QA and oversight policies/requirements across the PPPO organization and among its contractors. The EM QA program describes the methods by which QA is implemented into the Integrated Safety Management System (ISMS), Contractor Assurance System (CAS), and the overall work processes conducted on EM’s projects. PPPO uses approved QA procedures, plans, and work instructions to ensure quality with specific guidance and effective evaluation and oversight of contractors.
Major Responsibilities:
- Ensure DOE’s, and particularly EM’s, interpretation of Quality Assurance standards are being consistently applied so that all PPPO projects and activities are completed safely and correctly.
- Ensure PPPO site contractor systems meet and adhere to DOE quality requirements including such areas as QA, Quality Control (QC), CAS, Issues Management, and ISMS.
- Coordinate and/or conduct independent site assessments and surveillances of contractors as required in each site’s Annual Assessment and Surveillance Plan.
- Develop QA and oversight related expectations and performance objectives and measures for the PPPO and its site contractors.
- Encourage and facilitate proactive quality measures, promote quality communication, and drive continuous improvement among PPPO and its contractors.
- Generate quarterly the Occurrence Reporting and Processing System (ORPS) Report to EM Headquarters detailing site contractor unplanned or abnormal events or conditions that cause or have the potential to adversely affect the health and safety of workers, the public, or the environment as required in DOE Order 232.2 Admin Chg 1 Occurrence Reporting and Processing of Operations Information.